Interconnection of electrical circuitry by means of solid electrical conductors, such as wiring having adjacent non-conductive material or substantially three-dimensional waveguides with or without center electrodes, often involves failure-prone electrical plug-in connection and/or solder-mediated bonding. Intermittency or total lapsing of electrical continuity, as at plug-in connectors, is especially troublesome in transmission of low-voltage signals, as are becoming more common in communications and control applications.
Whereas composite connectors have been disclosed, such as by DuRocher in U.S. Pat. No. 4,067,945, the problem of assuring positive interconnection and discouraging unwanted disconnection has remained substantially unchanged. Multi-layered printed circuit boards, such as disclosed by Landis in U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,904 or by King et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,912,020, have not ameliorated the connection problem.
The present inventor's referenced patent applications disclose, inter alia, making patterned electrically conductive laminae, having electrically conductive portions and non-conductive portions contiguous side-by-side, respectively substantially homogeneous electrically through the lamina thickness face-to-face, in several ways:
(i) depositing conductive and non-conductive material side-by-side onto a preferably flexible substrate, then removing the substrate; PA1 (ii) filling an intaglio non-conductive structure with conductive material and removing the intaglio base, as by shaving it away; and PA1 (iii) depositing conductive and non-conductive material side-by-side onto a substrate so foraminous as to leave the conductive portions of the lamina substantially as conductive face-to-face as they would be in the absence of the foraminous substrate.